Florida Blue teams with Marvel Custom Solutions to create a new comic book (sólo en inglés)

At Florida Blue, we are constantly looking for new ways to help the people of Florida in their pursuit of health. Over the past few years, we have introduced a number of initiatives to help our members improve their overall health and wellness, including: the Florida Blue retail centers, online medical cost comparison tools and health care consultants available 24/7 to assist our customers in navigating the complexities of health treatments and more.

One particular area of focus has been on childhood health and wellness. Research shows that the health of our children significantly affects their overall happiness and success in life. Promoting healthy lifestyles through good nutrition and physical activities can go a long way to improving childhood health and wellness. For several years now, the Florida Blue Foundation, through its innovative Embrace a Healthy Florida campaign, has been working to improve the health and wellness of all children in Florida, with specific attention to reducing the incidence of childhood obesity.

In order to show people that it is easier and fun to stay healthy if you work together with friends and family, we worked with Marvel to create a new comic book that features Habit Heroes characters uniting with the world-famous armored Avenger, Iron Man. In this comic adventure, the villains unite to take control of New York City. They are stealing the citizens’ energy in order to open a portal and bring their evil master to Earth. The Habit Heroes – Agent Dynamo, Agent Fuel and Agent Quench – respond to the emergency, charging into the city to save its citizens…but the threat is too big for them to handle alone! To combat the Hazards’ mysterious new technology, they seek out the one hero who will know how to stop it Iron Man!

When asked about the collaboration with Marvel on this new comic book, Pat Geraghty, chairman and CEO, Florida Blue, said, “I am extremely excited about this effort. With the health care industry dramatically changing, one thing we all need to be focused on is being proactive about our health.” He went on to say, “If we can create a fun experience for children and families to help further their health, we get one step closer to accomplishing our mission of helping people and communities achieve better health.”

“Iron Man’s armor may be able to fly through the air and fire repulsor rays, but inside that armor is Tony Stark, who, like all of us, can always learn new ways to improve their lives by making healthy decisions,” said Marvel editor Bill Rosemann. “Whether it’s eating fruits and vegetables, staying hydrated or exercising regularly, everyone—including billionaire heroes—can take control of their health by developing positive habits.”

Florida Blue worked closely with third-party health and wellness experts to create a comic book that conveys a positive message about healthy lifestyles in a fun and empowering way. The comic shows that everyone, even Iron Man, can grow their ‘habit power’ and be a hero by making healthy choices every day. The comic will include a Habit Heroes training guide and will be available in print and digital forms as well as English and Spanish. To announce the Habit Heroes and Iron Man comic, we are hosting events statewide where children can get their comic and meet Iron Man. For more information about the events visit FloridaBlue.com

About Marvel:

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit marvel.com

About Florida Blue:
Florida Blue, Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, is a leader in Florida’s health care industry. Our mission is to help people and communities achieve better health. Florida Blue has approximately 4 million health care members and serves 15.5 million people in 16 states through its affiliated companies. Florida Blue is a not-for- profit, policyholder-owned, tax-paying mutual company. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., it is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information, visit http://www.floridablue.com/.